Why can’t we eat zebra?

According to shape.com “only one of the three breeds of zebra … can be legally farmed for consumption: the Burchell breed from South Africa. Known to have a somewhat “sweeter than beef” taste, the edible meat comes from the hindquarter of the animal and is very lean.”

The better question might be why don’t we eat zebra?

Because, being adapted to African conditions, they don’t sound exactly easy to farm:

Zebras are aggressive. They have not evolved in tamer temperate regions, they have instead evolved to survive as a species in Africa where lions are their main predator.

There are many recorded cases of zebras killing lions. This is usually caused by a kick to the head, causing death or a broken jaw, thus causing the lion to starve.

To give an idea of the power of a zebra's kick, one need just point out that no horse has ever broken a lion's jaw. Furthermore, few people have ever walked away after being kicked by a zebra.

That sounds like an awful lot of extra risk compared to your standard meat animals.

Ian Brooks

studied Chemistry & Geography at Harlow College (2000)

We can, so long as its not one of the 2/3 species that’s on the endangered species list.

I’ve had zerba before in the UK. It’s expensive and incredibly lean and easy to cook wrong - in fact it was when I had it and was very tough - but it is legal if you have the Burchell breed from South Africa.